by TR Cameron
Cali stepped beside her and asked, “What’s that about?”
The woman grinned. “Anti-magic bullets. They cost entirely too much money but are perfect against magicals, at least until they realize what they’re up against and adapt their tactics.”
A shiver went through her at the thought of the wicked rounds the Zatoras sometimes carried. “I’m glad you all are on our side.”
Cara nodded. “The enemies we face are powerful. We need every edge we can get.”
Diana interrupted their conversation. “Cara, since you have a cracked deflector, I’ll take point. You’re second, followed by Cali and Tanyith. Rath and Fyre, you stay in the middle on the flanks. Trust physical cover first, then magical protection. You never know what they’re packing.” She strode forward to the lead position and everyone followed as ordered. Cali obeyed without thought, such was the authority the woman radiated.
In their earpieces, Deacon said, “I have surveillance up. Cameras show magicals and armored troops in the next room. The stairs to the basement are after that.”
A new voice Cali didn’t recognize added, “Boss, you should be alert for explosives. There are suspicious-looking boxes on the video. They could be nothing or could be something. I’d double-box and crush them to be sure.”
Diana paused in her advance and the others stopped. “Where?”
“At the head of the stairs—both sets—and at the landing.”
“Okay. Thanks, Khan. Glam, Deacon, find us another way in case their plan is to collapse the whole staircase. Even if we have to blow a hole in the floor or something.” The agent moved forward and they all fell into step again. When they reached the far side of the chamber, she stopped and pointed. “Two thermals left and two right. There might be troops in chill suits above us or anywhere else in the room.” None were in their line of sight but it made sense that they’d wait until they had the element of surprise. Of course, whoever it was hadn’t anticipated the agents’ tech.
That thought sent Cali’s mind off on a tangent. That’s a good question, actually. Who’s doing this? It seems a little big to be the Atlantean gang.
“If we can capture one to learn who they are,” she whispered, “that would probably be useful.”
“That’s standard procedure,” Cara replied, “but only if it’s possible to do it safely.”
Diana cut them off. “Going in three, two, one, go.” She raced forward into the room, her pistol extended in front of her, and swept the weapon to cover the right-hand side. Cara did the same on the other side, while Cali summoned a shield in place of her left stick and held the other ready. Tanyith had chosen only magic and had a shield in his off hand. Rath’s batons were already drawn and Fyre stalked low to the ground, ready to make a serpentine charge when an enemy was sighted.
The next chamber was modeled after a prehistoric forest and trees covered most of the floor. Paths snaked through them and more skeletons of every size were dotted around. If Cali had planned an ambush, she would have held off until her quarry had reached this room.
I guess it’s good they were overexcited. Gunshots sounded, seemingly from everywhere in front of them, and she dove for cover behind one of the trunks. Tanyith did the same in the other direction. The agents all reacted differently.
Rath shouted, “I am the law,” and barreled toward the far-left corner of the room. He grew larger with each step and by the time he reached his destination, he topped seven feet. His equipment was scattered on the ground along his path, apparently designed to fall free.
Fyre will be full of envy over that ability. She imagined a seven-foot Draksa fighting her for the blankets on her bed and was thankful he couldn’t do it.
Cara and Diana had holstered their pistols and drawn the stun guns. They fired almost simultaneously but their targets didn’t drop. The second in command growled with irritation. “Electrical dispersion tech. They must have cost a pretty penny.”
The leader drew her pistol with a curse. “Bryant is gonna be ticked that we wasted anti-magic bullets on humans.” She squeezed several rounds off and one of the troopers fell.
Amusement was evident in Cara’s teasing tone, which seemed like a mismatch to the situation. “Well, I’m sure you can find a way to distract him, boss. Take one for the team. Hell, take two.” More pistol fire punctuated the words and another enemy collapsed.
“I’m cheap, but not that cheap,” Diana replied. Her voice reverted to all business as she commanded, “Hold fire.” The Draksa swooped across the line of enemy troops and blasted them with frost to ice the entire group. The enemies didn’t react to him, which was both a sign of his prowess and a benefit of having two sharpshooters for them to focus on.
Cali climbed carefully out of cover. “So, this is simply a normal day for you all, is it?”
Cara laughed. “Basically, yeah.” She and Diana both ejected the used magazines and slotted in new ones as if it was an automatic action once the room was clear.
“So, we’ll stay back here and provide emotional support.” Tanyith sounded impressed. “I think y’all have this covered.”
Diana waved everyone forward and walked toward the staircases in the room beyond. “We have better tech than most mercenaries—which is no doubt what these are—plus magic. It’s an uneven fight unless they have anti-magic bullets or magical assistance. We won’t have nearly as great an advantage when we get to the real resistance.”
The younger woman frowned. “Wait, that wasn’t real?”
“They’re testing. While they’d surely have been happy if these had eliminated us, there’s no way they would have counted on it. No, we’ll face a mixed force at some point and that will be the real battle.”
“I am so glad you decided to come along.”
The agents laughed and Rath stepped beside them at his normal size again. He finished putting his equipment on, and Cara checked it to be sure everything was right before she gave him a thumbs-up.
“I can do this all day,” he observed, and Diana shook her head and replied, “No more Marvel movies for you, buddy.”
They strode into the room with the staircases. A statue stood between them—some kind of Neanderthal humanoid, Cali guessed—and marble stairs descended on both sides. As the Khan person had warned, small boxes were placed at the ends of each, four of them in the room.
“Claymores, you think?” Cara asked.
Diana shrugged. “Maybe. Or something to turn stone into shrapnel. Either way, it sucks.” She turned to face them. “Okay, New Orleans people, it’s time to earn your pay.” Her smile ensured they knew it was a joke. “Cara will create an inner box around the one on the left, and I’ll do an outer box. When those are in place, she’ll crush it with hers and mine will contain whatever surprise waits within. At least, that’s the plan.”
Her teammate took advantage of the pause. “And the boss’s plans always, always work out exactly as she intends them to.”
The other woman extended a single finger at her subordinate and continued to speak. “Tanyith, put a wall up to separate it from us and from the other boxes. Cali, wrap the closest box in its own shield in case everything else fails. We don’t want these things to chain-trigger one another. Rath and Fyre, find cover.”
No one argued. Cali released her magic and imagined a square of force twice as large as the suspicious box and wrapped it. Tension filled her as she slipped the magic between the bottom and the floor, but the device didn’t detonate and she exhaled a long, relieved breath.
Heh. They’re probably not explosives at all and this is a waste of time.
“Is everyone ready?” Cara asked. Affirmative replies followed. “Okay, here we go.”
She made no visible effort, but the effect was dramatic. A loud muffled bang was immediately followed by fire and smoke that filled Diana’s shield. It died quickly without the oxygen to burn. The lead agent said, “Ow. That was some pushback.”
Cara nodded. “It’s powerful stuff. They definitely wa
nted to collapse the stairs and us, preferably in pieces.”
“You have some troublesome enemies, Matriarch,” Diana stated.
“That I do.” Cali shook her head. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to repay this particular favor anytime soon.”
The woman pointed at the next box. “Same plan, people.” As they applied their magics, she added, “No compensation is necessary other than being our intel source on New Atlantis. With your connections and influence there, that will benefit our work considerably.”
She snorted and whispered theatrically, “Did you hear that, Tanyith? I have connections and influence. And here I thought I was little more than comic relief with a target painted on my back.”
“Why not both?” he replied and soft laughter filtered across the channel.
They detonated the remaining explosives at the top of the stairs and those on the landing without incident. The delay was frustrating, but there was no question that it was the only way to handle the situation. Finally, they reached the bottom floor.
Deacon’s voice came as a sudden intrusion over the comm. “They’re waiting for you two rooms ahead so there are probably more surprises between here and there. We haven’t been able to identify any as the cameras and sensors have been physically disassociated.”
Cali frowned. “What now?”
Cara laughed. “Ripped out. Deacon likes fancy words.”
“I like accurate words,” he countered. “Unlike you uncivilized cretins.”
The second in command laughed. “Glam, smack him for me, please.”
Diana shook her head but a smile spread across her face. “Okay, Rath, Cara. Let’s do flash-bangs and go in and mop up. Cara left, me center, and short stuff, you have right.” The trio moved into position near the archway that led to the next room. “Grenade out.”
Each threw two grenades quickly before Rath’s batons snicked open and the women drew pistols. Loud crashes sounded ahead, along with shouts and at least one scream of pain. The agents surged into the room and the others followed. Pistols barked, and figures fell. A fireball careened toward Cali. She conjured a shield, blocked it, and summoned her sticks. Without slowing, she caught a force bolt on one and grounded a lightning attack with the other as she sprinted forward in the direction of the two magicals in the front left corner of the room.
Shadow bolts streaked over her shoulders as Tanyith followed, and her foes were forced to drop their attacks in order to defend themselves. She targeted the one closest to the wall and fired force blasts to keep him on the defensive until she moved within range. He had created a full-body shield similar to the ones she favored, so she drove a force bolt into the wall behind him. Shards erupted from the impact, sliced him, and distracted him enough that he moved the shield and provided an opening. She hammered his forearm with her stick and shattered it, and when he lost his focus from the shock, she felled him with a quick triple-strike to his head.
Tanyith had borrowed a page from her book and bulldozed bodily into the other one, who currently slid down the wall and left a trail of scarlet from where her head had struck it. Cali dimly realized that there were conversations going on and tuned in to hear Cara say, “Clear here,” and Rath reply, “Here, too.”
“Uh, clear here,” she stammered. “Two magicals down.”
Gunfire sounded from the chamber beyond and a concerted barrage of bullets flew through the arched doorway. Diana yelled, “Cover,” and everyone obeyed. She asked, “Deacon, confirm that our objective is in the next room?”
He replied instantly. “As far as we know, boss. It seems likely. There are several safes in there, bigger than those we use for rifles. If I secured something valuable, that’s where I’d put it.”
“Okay, it’s time to wrap this up. Everyone, reload and get ready. We go on the count of ten.”
Chapter Twenty-One
The agents repeated the process they had used in the previous room and lobbed grenades prior to their advance. Like Diana had said, though, the enemy had gathered information as they made their way through the museum and had shielded against the barrage of light and sound.
Gunfire greeted Cali as she raced into the chamber and she cringed under the cover of her force shield and said a small prayer that the mercenaries didn’t have anti-magic bullets. When the rounds rebounded harmlessly, she sent thanks to the universe and chose one of the rifle wielders. A blast of force flung him into the wall behind him and he fell senseless.
Fyre flashed in front of her and took the brunt of a lightning attack she hadn’t detected. He screamed in anger but she felt no sensations of pain coming from him. She turned to the new opponent but he was engulfed in the swirl of smoke and action. Tanyith traded punches with a mercenary a few feet away from her, and she skipped in and caught the woman with a sidekick in the ribs. His uppercut took her out of the fight, and her helmet made a sharp sound as it thumped against the floor.
They separated to seek new enemies. She crossed behind Diana, who calmly fired bullets into magicals and non-magicals alike while her second in command protected her from counterattacks. The two operated almost as a single individual in the way they moved and attacked. When Cali stepped through a waft of smoke, she discovered Rath delivering a wicked series of blows with his batons to a magical who’d obviously failed to stop him from closing. She noticed the dark crystals on the front of his vest and realized that they were almost certainly magic protection based on what Diana had said earlier. It made sense, and she filed the knowledge away to ask about later. Perhaps the stones might provide the edge Ikehara needed to even the odds in a magical battle.
Instinctively, she raised her sticks in an X to catch the huge overlapping cones of fire two mages unleashed at her. She threw one stick at the enemy on the right to distract him, then lunged toward the one on the left and made sure to position him in the other one’s line of sight. Her mind reached to Fyre’s with a request that he take the second one, and affirmation bounced back.
Meanwhile, the one in front of her had cast lightning and when she blocked it, launched a punch at her. The unexpected attack was too fast for her hasty shield to catch it and landed on her right shoulder. The arm felt nothing but pain for a long instant before it became numb and refused to respond. She realized her foe’s fist was wreathed in lightning as it swung again.
That’s new. A corner of her mind considered how she might use such a physical-magical combo while the rest reacted to the attack. She stepped with her right foot and he made the mistake of overextending to try to reach her. Instantly, she dropped her left-hand stick and stretched to grasp his wrist to use it as a lever to pull him in a different direction. Faced with the choice of letting it break or throwing himself down, her foe chose the latter and she powered a boot into his temple. He moaned and rocked his head so she kicked him in the ribs to keep him out of the fight. While it was tempting, she didn’t want to risk another blow to his brain.
Something drove into her from behind and hurled her forward and down. She barely managed to position her uninjured arm to protect herself, then twisted with a curse at her dysfunctional limb when it failed to assist. Rath was on top of her, and the wall to her right was on fire.
He grinned. “Remember the five rules of dodgeball. Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge.” In the next moment, he was up and running again and she stared after him and shook her head.
Suddenly, the surrounding noise ceased and everyone called, “Clear,” in turn. She groaned as she scrambled to her feet and joined the others in the center of the room.
Diana looked at her hanging arm and grinned. “Not bad for that fight. Lightning punch?” She nodded. “I thought that’s what I saw. It should come back in a few minutes or you can take a healing potion. The magic overloads the nerves.” The others had scrapes and cuts, and Cara had a bruise on her cheek that had already begun to darken.
“I’ll watch the stairs,” Tanyith said and walked to that side of the room.
The lead agent nodde
d. “Cara, you deal with the safe. I’ll keep an eye on the other side. Rath, Fyre, you’re the second line of defense.” They spread out and Cali walked to Cara.
“So, what’s the plan?”
The other woman held up a rectangular box with flickering lights on the front. “We let our techs take care of it.” She placed it on one of the giant old-fashioned safes above the combination wheel. The container was seven feet tall and about half that wide and deep. Several of them were present in the room. She spun the knob slowly and talked to the techs, who told her when to stop and move in the opposite direction. The first and second safes didn’t hold the shard, but when the third one opened, it was immediately visible. The agent stepped aside and Cali retrieved the heavy fabric she’d brought and wrapped it securely.
“Are we good?” Diana asked.
She breathed deeply. “We’re good.”
“Cool. Let’s blow this popsicle stand.”
Cara muttered something that resulted in her boss backhanding her across the chest, and they both laughed. Cali opened a portal to the basement of the Dragons and they all stepped through together.
They changed into civilian clothes before they ascended to the main room of the tavern. The place was incredibly busy and Zeb shooed the people seated at the bar to make space for them. In short order, they had ciders of varying potency, bread, and bowls of stew in front of them, except for Fyre. The Draksa had his stew behind the bar but with water to drink. They ate and chatted about random things before everyone accepted another helping and continued to do the same.
Finally, when she was stuffed and could eat no more, Cali withdrew the fabric-covered shard and set it on the wooden surface in front of her. Zeb inclined his chin toward it. “Is it what you thought it was?”
She shrugged. “Only Alessand will know for sure.” She unwrapped it carefully to reveal the silver metal with its deep engravings. “But it looks right.”
